MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Over the past year Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, has worked his way down a checklist of items commonly associated with a run at the U.S. presidency.

He has written a campaign-themed book and visited Iowa, New Hampshire and other pivotal election-year states. He has stumped for candidates nationwide. He even has criticized conservatives who challenge moderate incumbents, pleasing party elders.

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With a growing pre-presidential checklist, it is little wonder Walker is beginning to emerge as a top-tier candidate in a potentially crowded field in 2016. But first, he must win a tough reelection race in 2014, against Democratic businesswoman Mary Burke, his only announced opponent.

“Walker is working his way down the presidential to-do list,” said Mordecai Lee, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. “He’s doing the formula to a ‘T’.”